The Light Given for This Day

A Prayer for an Undivided Heart

“Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

— Matthew 6:34

O Lord my God,

at times the weight of what I do not know

becomes heavier than what You have actually placed before me.

My mind wanders toward what may come,

toward consequences I cannot foresee,

toward those whom my response to Your call may affect,

toward paths that have not yet opened

and sorrows that have not yet been given.

Gather me again.

Do not allow fear of tomorrow

to become a false obedience today.

Let there be no urgency in me

except the urgency of love,

no compulsion except the desire for You,

no need to arrive anywhere

before Your grace has led me there.

You know the voice of conscience within me.

You know the desire beneath all my desires:

not to construct a life of my own choosing,

but to become capable of saying yes

to whatever You give.

Yet keep me from mistaking anxiety for faithfulness.

I am not Providence.

I cannot carry beforehand

the consequences of obedience

that have not yet been asked of me.

Give me instead the courage

to receive the light You give now

without demanding light for the entire road.

Enough light for this step.

Enough grace for this hour.

Enough strength for the person standing before me.

When my mind scatters into possibilities,

bring it home.

When my heart begins rehearsing tomorrow,

return it to Your presence.

When fear asks me to solve what belongs to You,

teach me again the poverty of trust.

You have told us that today

has enough trouble of its own.

Then give me courage for today.

Let me attend to its trials without resentment.

Let me accept its limitations without struggling against them.

Let me do the work that love places in my hands.

And above all,

let me love those who are before me.

Not the imagined people of tomorrow.

Not the life I might someday be called to live.

Not the person I think I must eventually become.

Those before me.

Here.

Now.

Let no desire for clarity make me absent from them.

If You wish to reveal more, You will.

If You wish me to wait, let me wait without inward violence.

If You ask me to relinquish something, give me freedom to release it.

If obedience carries a cost,

keep me from either fleeing that cost

or seeking it before its hour.

Only keep my heart turned toward You.

I do not need to possess the road.

I need only not to turn away from the Light.

And when even that Light seems small,

give me the faith to understand

that You have not promised me tomorrow’s grace today.

You have given Yourself.

Let that be enough.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

have mercy on me.

Gather my scattered heart.

Teach me to remain.

And let whatever must come

find me here -

loving You,

loving those before me,

and quietly doing

the work of this day.

Amen.